Patient Financial Counselor

Job Description

Job Description

Position Summary

The Patient Financial Counselor will advise and assist Advance Community Health patients regarding payment of incurred medical bills and act as a liaison between patients and their insurance companies by ensuring insurance requirements are met prior to patients’ arrival. In addition, the Patient Financial Counselor will inform patients of financial liabilities, assist patients with the arrangement of payment options and will assist patients with accessing government funding sources.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Deliver outstanding customer service with every customer encounter.
• Detail oriented, conscientious and takes pride in ensuring accuracy of work.
• Team player engaged in fast-paced healthcare operations.
• Conduct research to ensure patient information is accurate and complete.
• Update patient registration information when demographics, new insurance or insurance changes are identified.
• Assist patients with the preparation of the Slide Fee Scale application and with obtaining proper supporting documentation.
• Populate estimated patient liability information in electronic health record and patient’s billing account.
• Make outbound calls to contact patients regarding estimates for upcoming visits/appointments, using the approved scripting.
• Receive inbound calls from prospective patients who are price shopping and provide an estimate for potential services.
• Collect estimated patient liability and provide financial counseling to include explanation of coverage/insurance benefits, how benefits relate to estimated patient liability and information on all account balances.
• Provide education about financial assistance and payment options available to Advance Community Health patients.
• Document all patient conversations in the billing and collections management system to alert staff if/when follow-up at arrival is required.
• Provide day-to-day financial and billing support for providers and clinical staff.
• Attends care team meetings and morning huddles to identify financial and billing concerns.
• Track client information, schedules, documents, and forms in a confidential manner.
• Educate patients on finance and billing status.
• Assist with data analysis and other duties as assigned to support the development of the Finance and billing department.
• As needed, verify and complete insurance benefit collection using current eligibility vendors or other available online tools; verify by telephone when online resources are exhausted.
• Performs other duties as assigned or become necessary by supervisor.

Supervisory Responsibility

• None

Education and Experience

• Associate’s degree in healthcare or higher with at least two years of billing and/or coding experience; or
• High School Diploma with at least five years of billing and/or coding experience.
• Work requires knowledge of basic grammar and mathematical principles.

Preferred Skills

• Bilingual

Physical Requirements

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit for periods one or more hours; use the telephone, use hands and fingers; reach with hands and arms; and talk and hear. The employee must be able to lift and/or move up to 20 pounds. Good vision abilities required by this job include close vision, color vision, and ability to adjust focus.

Monday – Friday, 8:00an – 5:00pm with flexibility

8 hours per day excluding breaks.